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Thailand
AsiaSoutheast Asia

Thai influencers charged with royal insult over Lazada adverts

  • Angry monarchists said a video clip portraying a woman in a wheelchair was an insulting allusion to a member of the royal family
  • Criticism of the monarchy is taboo in Thailand, where the King and his family are protected by some of the world’s toughest royal insult laws

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Thai police charged three social media influencers with lese majeste over controversial social media advertisements for an e-commerce firm Lazada that monarchists said mocked a member of the royal family. Photo: Reuters
Agence France-Presse

Thai police charged three social media influencers with lese-majesty on Thursday over controversial social media advertisements for an e-commerce firm that monarchists said mocked a member of the royal family.

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The TikTok clips promoting Lazada – owned by China’s Alibaba Group, which also owns the Post – enraged ultra-royalists who called for the company to be banned in the kingdom, and led to the Thai military barring the firm’s delivery vehicles from its premises.
Criticism of the monarchy is taboo in Thailand, where King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family are protected by some of the world’s toughest royal insult laws, with each charge carrying a prison term of up to 15 years.

Police Colonel Siriwat Deepo from the Technology Crime Suppression Division confirmed the arrest of the three people acting in the clips: Anuwat Pratumklin, Kittikhun Thamakitirat and Thidaporn Chaokovieng.

Their lawyer Duangrat Srinaunt said the trio had been freed on bail and that they denied the charges.

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